


Behind Glass Walls

by antigrav_vector



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, M/M, Not IM3 compliant, Other, Some feels, hints of D/s play, loosely set sometime in the six or so months between Avengers and IM3, mild exhibitionism kink, mild voyeurism kink, more fluff than planned too, plot appeared that I wasn't really planning on indulging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-05
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2018-01-14 14:45:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1270378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antigrav_vector/pseuds/antigrav_vector
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony likes to design things while Steve molests him. This, of course, leads to workshop sex. Pepper finds this kink kinda hilarious. But hot. She may have walked in on them. Only the first time was an accident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Behind Glass Walls

**Author's Note:**

> With thanks to my lovely beta readers: lil_1337, and prairiecrow
> 
>  
> 
> Fic is inspired by [this somewhat NSFW bit of art](http://kingsparrovv.tumblr.com/post/28952384853/wip-proof-i-am-still-alive-and-arting-i-go-out) drawn by kingsparrovv. (I can't seem to find the original artist's post. I know it was on tumblr, somewhere, but it was a while ago, and the art doesn't seem to have a sig on it anywhere that I can find. ^^;; If anyone knows the artist, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due. It _is_ rather lovely, after all. // ETA: Thanks for the tip, kaitoudark. :D ) Also partially by this [DJ Schmolli remix](http://soundowl.com/track/vbn/dj-schmolli-sweet-sweet-dreams-eurythmics-vs-recover-projectla-bouche) that came up on my writing playlist by chance at the right moment.

The first time it happened, it was late in the evening when Pepper finally got back to the penthouse apartment of the Tower. It had been a frustrating day, filled with minor paperwork snarls that had to be untangled and refiled in a very specific order, and all she wanted was something simple to eat and some time with Tony. Or Steve. Preferably including some cuddling, but she wasn't about to be picky right at the moment.

"Good evening, Ms. Potts," JARVIS' polished British voice greeted her.

"JARVIS," Pepper couldn't help the small smile. "Where are Steve and Tony?"

JARVIS was always happy to see any one of them, she reflected, and somehow managed to be a comforting presence despite his incorporeal nature. Probably because he was protective of those he considered 'his'. Tony was 'his' in a way that no one else could rival, though. His creator, his master, his friend, his charge, and his constant point of contact.

"The Captain and sir are currently in the workshop. Though what the purpose is of the device sir is currently designing is beyond me."

If Tony was designing and Steve was in the same room, that likely meant Steve was ensconced on the sofa, sketching. The sofa, which Tony had put in the workshop just for him. That still amazed Pepper. Tony tended to be as solitary as possible, but he hadn't protested Steve's slow annexation of the workshop as one of his places to relax. Cap had fallen into that habit gradually after the chaotic events that had forged their relationship into a romance, but it was one that had stuck. In stark contrast, he still had to be reminded to carry his cell phone and check his email.

It had taken years for her to get Tony into any semblance of a functioning relationship. Afghanistan had opened his eyes, and hers, to a lot of things, including each other. Vanko's actions -- and Tony's responses -- had strained the togetherness they had built, but not broken it. In the end, though, it had been Steve's abrupt appearance in their lives that had sparked a big change. Pepper smiled ruefully, remembering. She'd always known Tony didn't really discriminate when it came to the gender of his bedmates, but his sudden focus on Steve had thrown her for a loop.

In the aftermath of the Battle of New York, as it had been dubbed by the media, Tony had stood in the ruined penthouse suite with her, redesigning the Tower, talking over, under, and around her as always, until he'd stopped. Paused, with his hands still deftly manipulating the holographic model of the new proposed design for the Tower that JARVIS was generating and updating, and asked her if he could move the other Avengers in with them. A few pointed questions had gotten him to reluctantly reveal that it was Cap he'd wanted to move in, and the others would be a bonus if he could convince them to.

He'd already designed floor plans including apartments for each of them, one to a floor, putting them together as he talked. In the end, only Steve had been willing to take Tony up on his offer. Privately, Pepper thought that was for the best. Natalie, no, Natasha, and Clint needed the freedom to come and go as they pleased, without being observed, and the Tower was a gauntlet of media to dodge. Thor... would not really fit in well, without much invested effort in teaching him the social niceties that needed to be observed, and would be happier with his Dr. Foster anyway. Dr. Banner refused to be tempted to stay permanently by the offer of a lab. He'd agreed that while he was in town, he'd stay with them, but felt he could do more good for the world by going back to the life he'd led prior to the Battle.

Steve, though, had had nowhere to go except to the apartment SHIELD had offered him, and knew no one but the team and Nick Fury in this time. And Tony had done his best to be convincing. After a short tour of New England, Steve had returned, and tried to settle into the Tower. Seemingly in response, Tony started hiding in his lab, spending less and less time with her, or the teammate he'd insisted come live with them. Steve had tried to help her work out the issue. He'd done any and everything she'd asked, polite to a fault, but the weird tension between him and Tony had remained.

And then the Avengers had been called back together to face some new esoteric threat. Some alien with a rather sadistic streak had decided to come to earth to wreak havoc with tech no one had ever seen or heard of. Nor could anyone replicate it, now that the threat was over. Not even Tony could. As to what it did... Tony and Steve had both tried to explain it, and failed until Tony hit on the metaphor of that mind-meld thing from Star Trek. Which was not a concept that _she_ was all that familiar with, but it got the idea across. The two of them had been in each others' heads for a while. It _had_ gotten rid of the tension between the two of them, but instead Tony was visibly forcing himself not to touch. Doing his level best not to upset Pepper. She'd recognised the signs immediately. The interesting thing had been that Steve had started doing the same. For the sake of everyone's sanity and stress levels, she'd sat them both down one night a couple of days later, and forced them to hash everything out with her. That had been a couple of months ago, now. The three of them were still working out where the borders and limits were to this new dimension of their relationship. Adding Steve in had not been much of a hardship for her, and it had been a huge relief to both Tony and Steve. She was still somewhat surprised that Steve's sexuality was flexible enough for a relationship like theirs, despite his upbringing, but so far it was working.

Shaking her head to clear it, Pepper sighed and pulled out the ingredients for a sandwich, throwing one together without much care for presentation. Right then, presentation didn't matter; she just wanted a bite to eat. It was about as complex a task as she felt she could manage at the moment, anyway. The day had been a blur of meetings, arguments, and chaos. Well, moreso than usual, considering Tony had only been peripherally involved. After the Board meeting in the morning that she'd managed to wrangle Tony into attending, he'd grudgingly followed her to the meeting with the R&D group leaders. That had been -- surprisingly -- more productive. Tony had been reasonably happy with the progress the teams were making (though he still scoffed at some of their "beginner's mistakes"), and it showed through in the way more had gotten done than usual. As they'd exited the room, Tony had quipped, "Sometimes I'm reminded that people can be halfway competent."

After that, though, their paths had parted. Tony had disappeared into his workshop to play and she'd... Well, she'd been hit by a metaphorical landslide of paperwork. The day had quickly degenerated into a series of fires she'd had to put out personally. It had seemed like someone, somewhere, had decided that the moment anything went wrong it was up to her to fix it. Possibly in a committee, considering the number of people whining at her throughout the day. Nevermind that the people bringing her their problems had perfectly competent subordinates that they could delegate these issues to. In the process, she'd been forced to skip lunch, and now her normal dinner hour was all but over.

Putting the finishing touches on her sandwich, Pepper leaned against the counter of the small well-lit kitchen and reached into the fridge for something to drink without really paying attention to what she grabbed. There was a six-pack of tall slender glass bottles with one missing, and that was good enough for her. She didn't much care what it was. Probably Coke. Opening it and taking a mouthful, she startled in surprise and almost choked. Since when was there cream soda...?

Not just any cream soda, either, Pepper was amused to note, holding it up to inspect it and reading the label. The traditional old-school kind that was difficult to find and acquire. This had Tony's handiwork scrawled messily all over it. Something for Steve. She took another sip, almost pensively. It wasn't bad, now that she had an idea of what to expect.

Shrugging to herself, Pepper picked up soda and sandwich and started for the stairs leading to the workshop, taking bites as she went. Tony hadn't wanted to deal with a long trek down to the basement of the Tower if he had a moment of inspiration, so the workshop was on a -- very well reinforced -- floor just below the penthouse suite. It also made maintaining the security protocols easier, he claimed. Pepper privately thought that was a convenient excuse to do whatever he pleased. At least the modifications had been fairly easy to implement during the remodeling and renovation spree he'd gone on after the Chitauri Invasion.

Despite the short distance, her sandwich was still nearly gone by the time she reached the upper landing of the stairs.

Taking the first step down the shallow, broad, and elegantly curving steps, she suppressed a shudder. That day was not full of good memories, though it had dropped Steve into their lives. And that, she thought with a smirk, had been a _very_ good thing. For both her sanity and Tony's. She could rest a bit easier knowing that Steve and Tony would watch one another on missions, and that Tony had one more person he could rely on. There weren't many. Not after they'd dealt with the fallout from Afghanistan and the Expo.

Those thoughts carried her around the curve of the stairs to the point where the workshop itself was visible through the glass viewing wall. What Pepper saw stopped her dead. _Should have made popcorn, rather than a sandwich. Why didn't JARVIS warn me,_ was all she could think. _He usually does, when Tony's... involved._

Granted, this was Steve he was involved with, and this particular situation hadn’t come up before. Those warnings had been implemented for the various one-night stands.

The lights were almost completely off, only the emergency tracklighting and Tony's arc reactor itself highlighting their features in blue-white hues. Tony, wearing only a pair of worn jeans and a nearly sheer white tank top was standing in front of his central workstation, facing the door. His fly was gaping open to the point where she could tell he had chosen to go commando when he'd come home and changed out of his business suit. The arc reactor glowed strongly enough to be clearly visible, lighting the planes of Tony's cheekbones and Steve's forehead. Steve, who stood wrapped around Tony in his usual painted on tshirt and slacks, caressing every inch of skin he could reach decently, and a few he couldn't.

Steve, catching sight of her first, met her eyes, his expression caught between smug and inviting. His shyness about having sex with Tony in front of her had been mostly burned away, meantime, but _this_ was new. Until now she'd never walked in on them, she'd always been present when things were instigated.

Tony, completely engrossed in whatever he was designing, didn't look up. Well, Pepper amended silently, watching Steve's hands roam all over Tony's torso and groin, probably not _completely_ engrossed. That was the moment when Steve did something she couldn't see, and she forgot the last few bites of her sandwich entirely. Tony's head fell back onto Steve's shoulder, the lines of his neck on display as he -- probably -- moaned. She couldn't hear a thing through the soundproofed walls of the workshop, and that, oddly, made it more erotic.

Taking advantage of the opening -- she'd known from the start that Steve's knack for tactics would extend to all sorts of situations beyond battle; Tony'd been surprised, initially -- Steve set his lips just under Tony's right ear and... no, those were definitely teeth. Tony went limp in Steve's arms for a long moment, his hands stilling and a full-body shudder running through him that Pepper could see, where she stood, motionless. It had taken Pepper a month to find that particular hot button. Steve had sussed it out in under a week. With visible effort, Tony pulled himself together and raised his head, resuming what he'd been doing. His hand motions were slower now, though, and jerkier. Distracted.

Whatever game they were playing, it looked like fun. Tony had asked her if she wanted to experiment in the workshop, once, when they had still been working out the boundaries of their relationship. It hadn't sounded particularly appealing at the time. Tony kept the workshop as clean as he could, albeit mostly on JARVIS’ insistence, but the grime and grease were pretty much unavoidable, and that was a definite turn-off. Now, though... She was reconsidering. Definitely reconsidering.

He must have asked Steve, sometime, and gotten a more approving reaction, she surmised.

Pepper found herself biting her lip, caught between the conflicting impulses to stay right where she was and enjoy the show or join the two of them. One thing was for sure: she certainly wasn't thinking about work (or much of anything coherent) anymore.

As Steve's hands wormed their way under his clothing to stay, Tony gasped out a few words only Steve and JARVIS could have heard and the holographic screen in front of him winked out. That seemed to mean something to Steve. His touches got more urgent, faster, and Tony leaned back against him, hands coming up to reach behind him and sink into Steve's hair, trying to pull him closer still, not satisfied by the minimal contact he had. Pepper bit her lip.

A few seconds later, impatient, Tony tried again. This time, he turned, Steve's hands following the motion without stopping his touches, and his hands deftly stripped Steve of his pants and underwear, not caring what happened after the clothing hit Steve's knees. One hand reached down to grab a handful of Steve's ass, urging him into motion. It worked, but not in the way Pepper suspected had been intended. Steve stepped out of the puddle of his clothing, turned Tony in his arms and scooped him up into a fireman's carry -- no doubt getting a surprised squawk of indignation -- and took the few long steps across the room to dump him on the sofa along the far wall. He didn't give Tony a chance to recover, either, immediately pinning him in place with hands on Tony's forearms and hips putting weight on Tony's thighs, leaning forward and lowering himself into a position where he could reach to kiss him thoroughly. Tony responded by arching his back, looking for -- and finding -- some friction.

Pepper was pretty sure at least one of them knew she was still watching and didn't care. Watching her two lovers rub against one another shamelessly, she couldn't bring herself to object, either. The contrasts in their appearances made for a lovely view, as always, and she took a moment to appreciate it. That was one thing that was much more difficult to see when they were all tangled together.

The instant Steve released one of his hands, Tony wormed it between their bodies, wrapping it around Steve, caressing and stroking, and watching as Steve threw his head back and came, pushed over the edge easily after all the foreplay. He didn't stop moving, though. Neither of them did. Tony, still riding the edge of his own climax, and Steve chasing the lingering shocks of pleasure still shuddering through him. Steve's hand joined Tony's between their bodies before slipping lower, over Tony's ass, and he thrust down, grinding hard against Tony. With a surprised expression, Tony stiffened and came, shouting something Pepper couldn't hear.

As they calmed, the two of them slid against each other, rearranging themselves, and stayed wrapped in one anothers' arms for several long moments. Pepper decided a strategic retreat was in order, before she was caught out. And possibly a shower. After that performance, she knew she would need some satisfaction of her own.

\--- ---

The second time it happened, events transpired only slightly differently. It had been another long day. The Avengers had been called out to deal with some douchebag calling himself Doctor Doom the previous morning, resulting in a media frenzy and a drop in SI's stock. Followed by chaos in the Board Meeting that had happened to be scheduled for the following day. A Board meeting Tony had successfully weaseled his way out of citing bruises and not wanting to show up looking like he'd been beaten to a pulp by the Hulk. Reluctantly she'd agreed; the world knew he was Iron Man, but the tabloids would still kick up a big fuss if he showed up anywhere looking the way he did. Board meetings were generally press magnets, and, though Tony didn't care what the tabloids said about him, he knew it irritated Steve -- who tended to catch hell as their team leader when they went wild, and Pepper -- whose job only got exponentially harder the more the press harped on Tony's perceived failings. It meant that much more time she had to spend wrangling the company and her contacts, and that much less he got to spend with her. Not to mention the impact on her mood.

Sometimes she was tempted to ask Tony for a suit of her own. Blasting something to bits would occasionally be _very_ cathartic. In fact, Pepper suspected that was a good half of the appeal Tony's suit held for him.

He had gotten away with only those minor injuries, at least, and even those were far less severe than they had been in the early days before Tony had perfected the undersuit and cushioning system. Now, at least, his injuries were on account of the fights he got into, rather than a result of simply using the armour. Sometimes she still had nightmares about the first time she'd caught JARVIS desuiting him. Those bulletholes... Pepper suppressed a shudder. It had been closer than Tony had wanted to admit, and he'd deflected as hard as he could. After that, she knew, JARVIS had insisted on adding layers of Kevlar and Nomex to the undersuit, in addition to upgrading the toughness of the outer alloy shell of the armour. She had lent her full support to the AI, when he'd obliquely asked. In the end, Tony hadn't resisted too much; he'd argued -- albeit tenaciously -- mainly to save face, and they'd let him.

Pepper shook her head. Getting lost in reminiscences wasn't the way she wanted to spend her evening. Especially not painful ones like those. Thinking about it, though, the frequency with which she was acquiring those had definitely decreased now that Steve and the team were a large part of their lives.

Settling on the appropriately modern but surprisingly comfortable sofa Tony had insisted on having in the penthouse suite, Pepper relaxed into soft cushions. "JARVIS?"

"Ms. Potts," the AI acknowledged her. He sounded oddly distracted. Pepper dismissed it as her imagination. JARVIS was never distracted.

"Is there anything in the kitchen that I can just reheat?"

"I believe there ought to be some Chinese that is still warm."

"Thanks." Pepper threw an arm over her eyes, hiding them in the crook of her elbow. She'd rest a few minutes, then eat.

"Ms. Potts?"

It felt like barely a moment had passed. Pepper opened her eyes with a quiet sigh. "What is it, JARVIS?"

"It has been an hour." Surprised, Pepper glanced at her watch for confirmation and got it, as the AI continued, "I have taken the liberty of ordering something fresh. It should be here momentarily."

"Thank you, JARVIS." On autopilot, she stretched and removed her shoes and the tattered remains of her makeup, as she had meant to do the first time she'd come in. Seconds after she'd finished, the promised take-out appeared, whisked up to the penthouse from the lobby of the Tower by JARVIS. The receptionists all knew about Tony's eccentricities, and having what amounted to a 100-odd-story dumbwaiter was nothing in comparison to most of them. Pepper had to smile, remembering the first time they had tried to order in takeout after the team had been formed. The tale of the chaos _that_ had caused was one that still refused to die out among the reception and janitorial staff. Tony had been 'persuaded' by Pepper and JARVIS to come up with a better way than letting anyone on the team -- including Natasha -- retrieve takeout. The Avengers were more than a little bit boisterous after battle. In comparison, having this system in place was _far_ simpler. And it came in handy for moments like this. Her smile widened a trifle. JARVIS tended to spoil his allies rotten, besides.

Sitting down to eat her meal, Pepper let her thoughts wander back to JARVIS. He'd confused and frightened her at first, and their relationship had been rocky until he proved to be a massive help in curbing Tony's wilder flights of insanity. It had taken some time for her to get used to his presence -- and to think of JARVIS as 'he', rather than 'it' -- but eventually she had managed. JARVIS, on the other hand, had been skeptical about her for a rather shorter length of time. Once she had gotten comfortable enough with Tony to start putting her foot down about certain things, he had quickly started to subtly court her friendship.

 _That_ had been... interesting. To say the least. One afternoon, memorably, after she'd had a knock-down drag-out fight with Tony over some idiotic trifle and regretted it about five minutes after she'd left, a small unobtrusive bouquet had randomly appeared in her office, and no one had been able to pinpoint the culprit. A week later, JARVIS had dropped a hint about it. Every time after that that she had put her foot down, a small gift would appear, anonymously. But Pepper knew exactly who it had to be from.

His argument in favour of the little gestures that he'd started making then, and still made now, was that he would rather be owed favours than owe them, but Pepper had long suspected he tended to be as reticent about showing true emotion as his creator, if for his own, rather different, reasons. She was fairly sure one of them was that he was uncomfortable with the idea that anyone other than Tony might know he had them. Pepper couldn't help but agree with the sentiment, given Tony's high profile lifestyle and the world's tendency to try to steal his ideas, his patents, and his privacy. She was very glad Fury hadn't gleaned more information about JARVIS that night he'd appeared in the penthouse and disabled all the security systems. If he had, likely he and Tony would have had a metaphorical -- and possibly literal -- war over JARVIS. And _that_ would have been one of the worst possible outcomes. For everyone. SHIELD wouldn't have had a moment's peace, given Tony's tenacity; SI's stock would have tanked; Tony's reputation would have been torn to shreds permanently; JARVIS' existence would have come out to the general public and he would have been effectively destroyed as everyone from the NSA to the FBI to the Army fought over possession of him... And she would have been caught in the middle of the maelstrom as Tony's CEO and (at the time only assumed) girlfriend.

Pepper winced to herself over the last bites of her food at the thought. Thankfully it hadn't come to that. Either through Fury's ignorance, pure chance, or Tony and JARVIS' brilliance. Shaking her head and doing her best to clear it, Pepper stood and tossed the take-out containers into the trash in the kitchen. "JARVIS?"

"Yes?"

"Where are Steve and Tony?"

"Both are in the workshop."

With a strange but pleasant sense of déjà-vu, Pepper thanked the AI and started down the stairs to the workshop. The sight that met her eyes only strengthened the feeling. Steve was wrapped around Tony. As he had last time, Steve looked up, probably catching the movement as she descended the stairs, but this time he met her eyes.

He murmured something into Tony's ear that made him startle and glance up, though his eyes were half lidded. Without conscious decision, Pepper took the last few steps down the stairs, her intention to seek out simple company forgotten entirely, and tapped in her access code at the heavy layered glass door. It opened with a with a quiet hiss and a draft of cooler air hit her. Tony, still pinned in Steve's arms, twisted to meet her eyes. His were dark with lust, arousal, and anticipation, as well as a dose of slight confusion. "Pep?"

Silently, without letting him break their gaze, Pepper took the few steps over to the central workstation, pausing in front of her boss-turned-boyfriend-turned-superhero boyband member. She addressed the blond behind him, though. "Steve?"

Having summoned enough coherent thought to be surprised at Pepper's presence, Tony raised a questioning eyebrow at her. Steve put a stop to that, squeezing gently with the hand down Tony's pants. It drew a low moan out of Tony. They'd clearly been at this for a while if that was all it took. Tony was usually much less easily distracted from something he considered a puzzle that needed solving. Like her presence. Catching Pepper's eyes, as he continued to tease Tony, Steve spoke, resting his chin on Tony's shoulder. "What is it, Pepper?"

"Is this a private party?" Pepper's eyes locked on the way Steve's blond hair seemed to melt into Tony's. The contrast was gorgeous.

Once she'd turned her attention back to the matter at hand, she saw that her question had drawn another wicked smirk over Steve's features. It had seemed vastly incongruous the first few times she'd seen the expression. Now, though, the main association was with some fairly athletic and creative sex. Steve was inventive and adventurous, and when coupled with Tony's experience and ego that meant things got... Interesting, every so often. And Pepper was curious to see what he had in mind for tonight. Several long moments had passed, now, and Steve hadn't yet answered. He'd cocked his head, considering, ever so lightly scratching at Tony's skin with his neatly trimmed nails. That garnered him another moan as Tony twisted in his grasp to push into the touch, seeking more. "Not so much strictly a private party, but I got the impression you weren't interested in... this."

His tone was light, careful. And the statement itself hinted that he'd discussed including her with Tony, only to hear about that one abortive conversation four years ago. Pepper smiled slowly. "Interest was never the issue. I just didn't see the appeal then. Now... Well, I think I've changed my mind."

Tony tried to focus, tried to blink some of the haze out of his eyes, with effort. It was only half successful; he still looked mostly debauched. "Pep? You serious?"

Steve pulled back his hands long enough to start stripping Tony, who was temporarily distracted. Pepper watched appreciatively, closing the distance between herself and the pair of her entwined lovers. Steve was still dressed, as was she.

Suddenly realising he'd been neatly out maneouvered, Tony turned in Steve's arms, forcing the captain to let go of him briefly, and pushed on the front of Steve's shoulders, guiding him backwards, towards the sofa. Pepper followed, amused, watching as Tony unceremoniously stripped Steve out of his clothes. The plain (but deliciously tight) tshirt disappeared first, tossed over one shoulder to land on the corner of a bright red toolchest, hanging there like a white flag of surrender. The belted slacks were slightly more difficult because they were still moving. In the end those stayed on until the sofa had been reached, and then met a fate similar to that of the tshirt, this time landing on a powered-down You's arm.

Steve, standing in front of Tony in nothing but a pair of boxers that did nothing to hide his erection, turned to Pepper. "So," Tony quipped, having collected himself, "call it, Cap."

"Get your supplies, if you have any down here," Steve commanded, turning toward Pepper. She stared him down calmly, suspecting she knew what he had in mind, and was proven correct when he carefully tugged her suit jacket and skirt off, laying them over the back of a clean (he checked) chair. Her blouse and underthings followed with similar amounts of care. Steve knelt at her feet to remove her underwear, and when Pepper glanced away from him as she stepped out of the garment she saw that now they had an appreciative audience. Tony had returned holding a bottle of lube and a handful of condoms.

Rising gracefully to his feet, Steve gestured to the sofa. Tony, with a slightly smug expression, arranged himself on it as though posing for a nude portrait. "Now stay put," Steve warned him.

"Or what?"

"Or we'll tease you to within an inch of your life," was the calm rejoinder. "You know I can hold you down, if I want to. And Pepper..."

Pepper laughed, finishing the sentence for him. "I know every. Last. Button. To push to drive you insane."

Tony's head fell back onto the arm of the sofa with a dull thump. "You two are gonna kill me."

"You don't sound too upset," Steve grinned at him as he stepped quietly up behind Pepper. She startled slightly when his large hands first landed on her skin, and then all but melted. He was using just enough pressure to turn the motions of his hands from caress into something else, but it wasn't quite a massage, either. Only a firm gentle pressure that made her relax against him.

Steve chuckled in her ear. "Rough day?"

"Mmm, yes, it was a little." The pressure of his hands deepened that trifle to send it into true massage territory, and Pepper into a state of near bliss as muscles she hadn't realised were tense unknotted. She sighed happily. "Have I ever mentioned that your hands are amazing?"

"A few times, but it's always nice to hear." The smile was audible. which was a good thing, because opening her eyes had suddenly become a difficult task. Steve's hands traveled up her neck, then back down to the points of her shoulder blades, gently working out the knots he found. "Slowly," he commanded, clearly speaking to Tony, who was watching him turn Pepper into so much willing putty in his hands and obviously enjoying the sight. Probably teasing himself.

The room was silent for a minute or so, until Steve's hands shifted their position. Strong arms wrapped around her, and Pepper smiled languidly as one of Steve's broad hands trailed over her skin from navel to breast, lingering where Steve decided he felt like it along the way, teasing. The other rested on her hip, more or less innocently. She felt much more relaxed now. It was, she decided, time he was rewarded. Reaching back, she found the button front on his boxers, and then the prize beneath. The hands on her skin tightened briefly when her hand closed around him, without conscious intent, then loosened. Steve was ever careful not to bruise. It was sweet. With a smirk, Pepper turned her simple grip into a caress. This was something she knew how to do, forwards and backwards, even if it was an awkward angle. If you didn't know any good tricks before sharing a bed with Tony, you sure as hell did afterward. She could see the amusement on Tony's face. He'd enjoyed that little display of dexterity firsthand when she'd learned it. Bringing her attention back to the matter at hand, though... "Steve?"

"Mm?"

"Call it," she echoed Tony's earlier quip, leaning back just enough to nip at his ear.

His broad hands settled around her waist, fingers spread in a way that did a little more than just hint at possessiveness. They spanned a lot more of her than Tony's, and it was an amazing feeling. Leaning in, his bare torso a long plane of warm skin and muscle against her back, he asked, "One or both of us?"

Pepper turned enough to raise an eyebrow at him. "At a time?"

Tony made a strangled sound. They'd never tried that before; it had simply never really felt like the right time to her or to Steve. Not that Tony hadn't hinted at it repeatedly. But Steve was shaking his head. "Not tonight. Tonight is about you, not us. Besides, that's best done on a bed, rather than a sofa or floor."

"Both, then."

Tony smirked, clearly hearing something in her tone that he liked. Steve, catching sight of the expression, nodded, and started giving orders. "Tony, on your back on the sofa. Get yourself ready." As he spoke, he used the hands he still had around her waist to guide Pepper over to the sofa, then position her over him on elbows and knees. She wound up staring into Tony's eyes as he rolled on the condom by feel. Shifting her weight to balance on her knees, she let her hands join Tony's, teasingly running her finger tips down the length of his flanks and thighs as she did. Tony's free hand came up to slide into her hair and pull her closer for a lazy kiss.

Steve, seeing an opportunity, settled behind her on the sofa, hands settling on her waist once more, and tucked her against him comfortably, not quite settling her in his lap, but it was close. Somehow it managed not to be an awkward position, though it did force her back down onto her elbows, which Tony immediately took advantage of, running his hands all over the skin he could reach. Steve was big, all hard muscle flushed warm with arousal, and felt like he could -- and would -- hold back the world if need be to keep her right where she was. Deciding to rub herself against him as sinuously as she could manage was easier than thought. The pair of hands on her waist tightened almost spasmodically, and Steve pulled away for a brief moment.

Without a word, in that almost eerie mock-telepathy that she suspected had manifested after the mind-meld incident, they exchanged a glance over her shoulder and then two sets of hands were guiding her into position, lowering her onto Tony. A moment later, Steve was plastered against her from her shoulders to her thighs. "Mmm," Pepper hummed, enjoying the stretch and the contact as she leaned back, resting her head on Steve's shoulder, "it doesn't get much better than this."

The comment got her a bemused snort from Steve. "That's what you think."

"This won't last long as it is," Tony snarked at them, one hand gripping at the back of the sofa hard enough to turn his knuckles white, clearly forcing himself not to move, "so maybe you want to get started."

Lifting her head to meet his eyes, Pepper pretended to consider, bearing down on him as she did. The frame of the sofa creaked. "Then maybe you should do something about it," she quipped, impatient.

The two of them seemed to snap fully back into sync. Steve's grip shifted, his hands landing on her thighs, just below her ass, and hitched her up a few inches, as Tony's clever calloused fingers danced over the spots he knew were most sensitive. Pepper squeaked.

It did get better. After that first quickie, Steve had levered her up off Tony and taken his place. By the time Steve was through with her, Tony had recovered. And time had seemed to blur into one long series of touches as they traded her back and forth, getting her off as many times as she could take, and then a couple more.

Eventually, exhausted and filthy, but very satisfied, the three of them curled together on the sofa.

"So," Pepper murmured into Tony's neck, "that was fun."

Tony laughed, wrapping an arm around her waist and tucking her closer to him. Steve radiated smug satisfaction, and pulled them both close. (Pepper didn't even have to see his face to know that he was smug. That was how strongly it came through.)

After a few minutes, Steve sighed and pulled away. Cool air washed over Pepper's back and she wordlessly grumbled sleepily at him. He snickered in response.

"Come on," Steve prodded at her, eliciting a protesting whine. She was comfortable. He prodded at her a second time, earning a very halfhearted swat. "We should get cleaned up."

Tony, who _had_ fallen asleep, roused somewhat at the sound of voices. "Wha'?" He stretched, jarring Pepper from her position sprawled across his chest and waking her a bit further. Giving up, she forced herself into a sitting position, languid and pleasantly sore already.

"Shower," Steve prompted again, tossing Tony his pants, a ruined pair of old beat up denim jeans, striped in paint, oil stains and other unidentifiable things from years of work on the 'shop. This time Steve got a mumbled agreement from them both, albeit slightly grudgingly. When Pepper stood, Steve offered her his tshirt. He was already back in his slacks. Putting her suit back on seemed a bit of a desecration, the state she was in, and the tshirt would cover the essentials, so Pepper accepted it gratefully. And the view was definitely worth enjoying besides. She let her fingers trail lazily up Steve's side to his shoulder, lingering as she passed him on her way toward the door.

Chivvying them both up the stairs and towards Tony's bedroom, Steve closed the door firmly behind them. JARVIS, ever attuned to his masters' needs and wants, already had the shower running. Steve hung back as they stepped into the master bathroom, setting out sleepwear for the three of them, before he followed. It was one of his habits that Pepper found cute. Pepper was just stepping into the large walk-in shower after Tony, as he entered the room. If she hadn't been wrung out already...

Later, once they were clean and mostly dried off, Pepper found herself sandwiched between her two lovers on the bed. Content, she sighed softly and closed her eyes. Sleep was not allowed to take her just yet, though.

"Pep," Tony's goatee scratched at her ear as he murmured, "what brought that on?"

"Mmm?"

"Thought you didn't want to mess around in the 'shop."

Clearly she wasn't going to be allowed to simply drop off to sleep. Drawing a deep breath, Pepper turned just far enough to meet his eyes. "Not being interested the first and only time you asked me isn't the same thing as never wanting to, Tony."

As Tony thought that over, Steve chimed in. "Told you so," he quipped at Tony.

Now, _that_ was intriguing. "Wait," Pepper interjected. "You told him what, exactly?"

Both refused to answer, and Steve's smug smirk was back. _Never mind,_ Pepper mused to herself, _I could probably ask JARVIS._


End file.
